How to Troubleshoot a Clothes Dryer

When troubleshooting a dryer for clothing, check for proper airflow, clean the lint trap and check the hose vent for lint. Get a dryer vent cleaned with help from a home repair specialist and remodeling contractor in this free video on home improvement and maintenance.

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Video Transcript

Hi, I'm Tim Gipson. I'm going to talk to you about how to troubleshoot a clothes dryer. Now, most of the time when we're havin' a problem with a clothes dryer it means our clothes are not gettin' dry, and the first thing that you want to check is you want to check and make sure that there's proper airflow. Just about all your dryers are vented to the outside via a vent. And what you want to look for; of course you want to make sure that every time you do a load that you clean this lint trap, and then also, you want to look down in here, and it's usually a good idea if you have a little flashlight. You can look down in there, and if you see a lot of lint buildup then there's a couple screws that hold these shields on in just about every dryer. You can pull this shield off, and now, and you can get in here and clean some of that out. Now, it's a good idea to use a vacuum cleaner or somethin' like that. Now, you don't want to be stickin' your bare hand down in there, cause' you'll find that there are a lot of sharp edges, so you'll want to wear some kind of glove if you do stick your hand down in there to start cleanin' the lint. Now, if that area is cleaned out and it's lookin' pretty good, and that's not the source of your trouble then what you'll need to do is you'll need to pull your whole dryer out, and off the back of the dryer will be a hose vent that goes into the wall. And over a period of time a lot of lint will build up in that hose vent, so you either need to clean it out, or better yet; replace it. And then, the next thing to go to would be to go to your entire vent system. And there are companies that will come in and actually clean your dryer vent, or there is a apparatus that you can buy at home improvement stores that will allow you just usin' a regular shop-vac to clean out those vents. But typically, when your dryer is not dryin' clothes properly it usually has to do with an air flow problem, which means that you just have a built up of of lint somewhere throughout the system. Now, if all that is cleaned out and you're still havin' that problem it could be a thermostat problem, and at that point you'd want to contact a qualified repair serviceman to come in and take a look at your appliance for ya'. So, I'm Tim Gipson, and that's how to troubleshoot a dryer.